EDITOR
Josh Funk
opinion:
EDITOR
' Mark Baldridge
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Lindsay Young
Jessica Fargen
Samuel McKewon
Cliff Hicks
Kimberly Sweet
Our
VIEW
Coaches should be
able to speak freely
You go, Frank.
A few weeks ago, after NU’s 24-20 loss
to Texas, Nebraska Coach Frank Solich did
the honorable thing: He told die truth.
He told a jam-packed room of reporters
that referees officiating the Huskers
Longhoms matchup dropped the ball. A
few calls that came in the fourth quarter par
ticularly stung NU’s chances in the game.
In die sports world, that’s a no-no. You
can’t criticize officials, the NCAA says.
President Clinton, yes. Movie stars, yes.
Ghandi? Fair game. But referees? Heaven
forbid.
For his comments, which Solich reiter
ated on his Sunday football program, he
received a public reprimand. Next time he
does it, the university gets fined, and Solich
will get a suspension.
Various sports organizational bodies
won’t allow critiques of the nature of work
by officials or umpires. They say it’s detri
mental to the game and that, at best, offi
cials can only guess at what they think is
right. It is entirely subjective.
Referees can control a game. They can
call as many or as few penalties or fouls as
they choose. They can shrink a strike zone.
They can ignore things, such as Eric
Crouch’s facemask against Kansas State.
And there are no public repercussions for
that. Solich should be allowed to call offi
cials out on these incidents. Enough people
do it in their living rooms at home already.
Officials claim they have an internal
review system. Solich, for example, can
turn certain plays in at the Big 12 league
office for review. And so die office reviews
diem. It still creates die aura that, in public,
officials are beyond review. Show them up,
and they shut you down.
Solich and thousands of other coaches
deserve better. Coaches should be able to
vent their concerns without worry of losing
money or the chance to lead their team.
Everybody has to answer for their mis
takes and not behind closed doors. Every
Saturday, that’s what officials do. They can
not be challenged on the field. They cannot
be challenged in the press. In a sense, they
are untouchable, as their bosses are former
referees themselves. Refs should have
power in a game, yes.
But they shouldn’thave such power and
'be immune from public criticism as well.
Sure, coaches, if permitted, would
mouth off incessantly. Sometimes they’d
even be wrong about their assessments.
That hasn’t stopped any other critic else
where in society.
So why shouldn’t coaches, like all oth
ers, be allowed to look like loudmouthed
jerks - sour grapes is no one’s private prop
erty.
Frank Solich ought to be able to speak
his mind about any subject he likes.
HMUPMq
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Obermeyer’s
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DN
LETTERS
Violence breeds Violence
As a therapist who formerly
worked in a maximum/supermaxi
mum security prison, I applaud the
candor and candidness of “Lost Man’s
Alibi” by Trevor Johnson (Oct. 28,
DN).
This story took a tremendous
amount of courage to pen, and
Trevor’s conclusions are completely
accurate.
The common denominator
between the inmates with whom I
worked was not race, socioeconomic
status or IQ - no, it was this fact:
More than 90 percent of these men
had abusive fathers or other males
(i.e. mom’s many boyfriends, male
relatives, camp counselors, etc.), and
nearly all of them lacked positive
male role models in their lives.
I’ve worked with sex offenders,
serial killers, bank robbers and perpe
trators of other violent crimes. I do not
recall ever talking to a single inmate
(population was 500) who bid a posi
tive family background.
This does not excuse violent
behavior. It does indicate some (not
all) reasons for it
The point Trevor made about
counseling for men is also well made.
The problem is somewhat two
fold; men are much less likely to seek
out counseling than are women, and,
also, there are not as many support
groups available to them.
I believe that mentor programs
(such as Big Brothers and Tom
Osborne’s Teammates program) offer
a solid bridge between such gaps.
Incidentally, girls who have abu
sive or absent fathers and who lack
positive male role models in their
lives are far more likely to be sexually,
physically and/or emotionally abused,
suffer substance abuse problems at
early ages and are more likely to
exhibit promiscuous behaviors at
younger ages.
Wendy L. O’Connor
academic adviser
UNL Independent Stuffy High
School
East Campus-Nebraska Center
Invaluable
This is in response to Todd
McCoy’s letter (Tuesday, DN) con
cerning his view of human life as not
valuable, particularly the comment,
“If people want to abort their mis
takes, more power to them.”
Aside from the fact that this is an
ignorant and callous way to view life,
especially innocent pre-born life,
McCoy is advocating die very behav
ior he seems to be so annoyed with -
irresponsibility.
.. He is angry at spoiled fraternity
boys who’ve never had to take on
adult responsibilities. He is angry that
irresponsible parents raise irresponsi
ble kids who wave guns around
because they have no morals or values
to enable them to contribute to and
function responsibly in society.
If he is so angry with these human
behaviors, which are obviously the
result of the failure of people to
ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY, then
how dare he make such an irresponsi
ble comment!
He is only contributing to the
problem.
Jennifer Dean
junior
sociology
ACLWho?
Let me get this straight: The
ACLU will bend over backwards to
get an image of the great leader,
Moses, removed from a seal, they will
bend over backwards to represent the
Ku Klux Klan, and they will bend
over backwards to represent so-called
“patriots*’ who stockpile guns in the
hopes of taking over each state
one by one - but they won’t represent
a man victimized by sexual discrimi
nation? ■ h;
When that happened to me, I
wrote them letters, wait knocking on
their door. I was ignored. I submit a
possible name change - the FICLU,
the Feminists and Ignoramuses Civil
Liberties Union.
These are, after all, seemingly die
only people the ACLU represents.
Jason Fredregill
East Campus